When I was very young and the urge to be someplace was on me, I was assured by mature people that maturity would cure this itch. When years described me as mature, the remedy prescribed was middle age. In middle age I was assured that greater age would calm my fever and now that I am fifty-eight perhaps senility will do the job. Nothing has worked.... In other words, I don’t improve, in further words, once a bum always a bum. I fear the disease is incurable. John Steinbeck

Morning,

It was another mild day yesterday. The high was 40. The low was 19. It was 37 and clear at observation. It looks like it'll be another great day today. Beware of ice on the trails, as it is sneakily hiding under a thin layer of snow right now.

I sat out near Cliff Tops for a few hours last night. Initially, I was out there for duty's sake - to fulfill my bloggy obligations at sunset. As things tend to happen amongst this majesty, I ended up feeling an ineffable calling to stay out. So I stuck around for the elusive, possibly mythical 2nd act - bobkitten viewing.

I sat as still as possible in the field where tracks are most prominent. I recall statues I've seen in Buddhist monasteries for inspiration - so still & serene. The moonlight creeps in dramatic ways through the trees. The tranquility that is only possible out here envelops me. It is not silence. It is an absence, a void. Not of noise, but of distraction. It amplifies the relevant sounds - the gentle breeze, trees straining in the distance. A mouse runs across the trail. At least I know that Bobkitten's food comes this way. As the full moon approaches, Bobkitten will do more hunting at night. I hope.

Top photo: Cliff Tops & West Point from Alum Cave trail. Above: The moonrise.

JASON

1/6/2012 01:30:22 am

DIG THE JOHNNY CASH....GREAT POSTS MAN!

edwinnia

1/6/2012 02:47:05 am

JP,
I absolutely love your prose...so insightful and well-written, and of course, the always gorgeous pictures of the mountains we all love so much!
Thank you for "watching" the mountains for us!

enjoy pics and blog every morning, stayed in lodge one year and shelter one year. Love the mtn.! question,snow and ice in first pic and no sign of snow in the moonrise; is it an earlier pic?? keep pic and blog comimg! Norman of Marietta, Ga.

Woody

1/6/2012 03:14:42 am

JP, Good show on the bob cat sighting. Be sure to count the toes since it could be a 3-toed squisher that you saw.

Clark

1/6/2012 04:05:21 am

Great writing style JP.....with the mountain top as your Walden. I hope a book of poems/thoughts is in process for you.

Great job!! How can anyone get so old, they don't want to go anywhere. I am always thinking of my next place to go.

Rod

1/6/2012 07:55:09 am

I don't know what it is about Cliff Tops, but I too find it so difficult to tear myself away when I visit that place. I think I could just about sit there forever.

Tony Ga

1/7/2012 01:01:27 am

Know exactly what you're talking about.

Doug Y.

1/6/2012 01:33:37 pm

Couldn't agree more with Debi and Rod; so true; I find great solitude and peace on the mountain. great independence; The people who read these comments as well as post them are individuals of character and courage; If you hike, you understand.

Comments are closed.

John Paul Krol

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